immunosuppressant

immunosuppressant, any agent in a class of drugs that is capable of inhibiting the immune system. Immunosuppressants are used primarily to prevent the rejection of an organ following transplantation and in the treatment of autoimmune disease disease. Among the agents that are most effective for transplant procedures are calcineurin inhibitors, glucocorticoids, and antiproliferative and antimetabolic agents. Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies are important supporting (adjunct) therapies.

Calcineurin inhibitors are the most effective immunosuppressive drugs in use. These drugs target intracellular signaling pathways induced by the activation of T lymphocytes (or T cells), a type of white blood cell that directly attacks and eliminates foreign molecules from the body. Cyclosporine and tacrolimus bind to different molecular targets, but both drugs inhibit calcineurin and, as a result, the function of T cells. Cyclosporine is used in patients who are undergoing kidney, liver, heart and other organ transplantation, and it is used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and the skin disease psoriasis. Cyclosporine is usually used in combination with other agents, especially glucocorticoids (which are commonly used in combination with other immunosuppressives both to prevent and to treat transplant rejection). Tacrolimus is indicated for the prevention of graft rejection and as emergency therapy for transplant recipients who do not respond to cyclosporine.

A number of antiproliferative and antimetabolite drugs are used as immunosuppressives. Sirolimus, produced by Streptomyces hygroscopicus, inhibits the activation and proliferation of T cells. It is used in combination with a calcineurin inhibitor and glucocorticoids to prevent transplant rejection. Mycophenolate mofetil inhibits the synthesis of guanine nucleotides needed for DNA and RNA synthesis. It also is used in combination with glucocorticoids and a calcineurin inhibitor to prevent transplant rejection. Azathioprine, a relatively toxic drug, exerts its pharmacological action by inhibiting several enzymatic pathways required for the synthesis of DNA. This drug is more effective in suppressing proliferating (dividing) lymphocytes; it is less active against nondividing cells.

Both polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies are used in the prevention and treatment of transplant rejection. Antithymocyte globulin is a highly effective immunosuppressant. Antibodies, including muromonab-CD3, directed at a particular protein on the surface of T cells (CD3 antigen) have also proved to be highly effective immunosuppressive agents. Daclizumab and basiliximab, which have been produced with recombinant DNA technology, bind to a receptor found only on the surface of activated T cells. Infliximab is an antibody that binds to the cytokine tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF_α), which prevents TNF_α from binding to its receptor. TNF_α is thought to play a role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn disease, and infliximab, which blocks the activity of TNF_α, has been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of patients with these inflammatory diseases.